One Year as Friends
by Jessica Jayme Bell
Summary: This is a Leo Story! This bout Leo and the person that he meets in the forest one day!


**DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately I do not own Leo, I don't own CHB, ETC. I do however own Penny!**

**NOTE: This is a reader insert story! Whenever you see: (FN) It means Your first name. (LN) is your last name and (FN+LN) is your full name!**

* * *

You are sitting on the branch of a tall tree. You lean up against the trunk and your legs swing slightly. You're facing out towards the ocean waiting for the sun to come out.

Tirelessly you plait your long hair before undoing it and doing it again.

When you see the sun first peak out of its hiding place you notice someone else walking through the forest.

You watch as the person accidentally walks around in a large circle.

You giggle as you hear the person get frustrated when they realize.

"Hello? Who's there?"

Oops, they heard you.

You drop down from the branch and land with a soft thump.

"You seem a little lost," you say with a smirk.

"Ye- NO! No, I was just... Uh... Just taking a morning stroll!" The boy replies making it seem more like a question.

"Oh well I was just doing the Tango," You say dryly still smiling.

"Okay, I'm completely and utterly lost."

"Well I'm not doing the Tango,"

He gives you a crooked grin and extends his hand, "Leo Valdez,"

"(FN + LN)" you reply taking the hand and shaking it.

"Sooo what are you doing out here if you're not doing the Tango?"

"I'll show you," you say before climbing back up your tree. The branch sits 12 feet from the ground and is just the right height to see the sunrise.

Leo scrambles up behind you nearly falling out of the tree once.

You chuckle at him before sitting down on the branch.

He mimics your actions, nearly falling out again, and takes a seat on the branch.

The sun is barely above the horizon and the sky is painted golden.

"Whoa..."

"Yeah, I come out here every morning just to see this."

"Whoa..."

"That's a small vocabulary" you say with a chuckle.

Shaking his head Leo snapped out of it and just sat there quietly. Soon his hands were fiddling through the pockets of his tool belt pulling out random thing before putting them all together in his hands.

After a minute or two he threw the object into the air and a small metal bird began flying around.

"That's pretty neat," you say watching its progress.

"Uh, thanks I guess..." You get as a reply.

"Sooo, why were you out here in the forest?" You ask.

Leo jumps, startled and fall backwards off the tree branch.

Acting quickly you grab his arm and flip backwards so you were holding onto the branch with your legs.

"Holy Hephaestus!" He says gripping your arm to prevent himself from falling.

"Hmm, not much of a tree climber, are you?" You ask holding out your other arm.

He reaches up and grabs a hold so he is hanging via monkey grip.

"No, not really,"

"Hmmm, I'm going to drop you," you say knowing that there is only a small drop from there.

"What!" he exclaims.

"You heard me, now you're going to have to let go," You say calmly.

"Why would I willingly let go?"

You look him in the eye, "Trust me."

He looks up at you for a second before looking forward and taking a deep breath. "Okay, tell me when."

"On three, one, two, three!" You say and simultaneously you let go. With a whoosh of air Leo drops and lands on his feet before tripping over backwards. He lands with a thump. You giggle before reaching up and grabbing the branch. You swing you legs down so you are holding onto the branch with only your hands and swinging yourself lightly you let go and land on your feet.

Leo, who hasn't gotten up yet and is now sitting on the ground in front of you, pouts.

You laugh before offering him a hand. But instead of taking your hand he hooks his foot around you ankle and trips you over with a smirk.

You lose your balance and fall forward. Due to your ADD you notice that he isn't smirking anymore. Not now that you're on top of him.

You groan, "Really?"

Brushing your fringe out of the way you notice exactly what position you're in.

You blush a light pink before hurriedly standing up.

You stand awkwardly holding your elbow.

There are several tense moments before Leo says, "Well, I don't think I'll be climbing trees anytime soon."

"Good plan," you reply as you feel the blush receding.

Another few not-as-tense moments go by until you pluck up the nerve to add, "We should meet here, each morning to watch the sun come up."

"Good plan," Leo replies echoing your last statement. The pair of you shake hands before parting ways.

* * *

**Just over four months later.**

You are sitting at your cabin table, when your counsellor, Lou Ellen, passes you a letter. You tuck the letter away to read later before finishing off your breakfast. It's a beautiful Sunday and you decide to take a walk though the very outskirts of the forest. You pull out the letter you had received in the morning. It was a highly official looking letter. You flip it over a pull it open. Untucking and unfolding you begin to read. The envelope falls from your hand as you grip the letter with both hands. You slid down against the trunk of the tree beside you. You curl up into a fetal position as tears begin to pour. You're not sure how long you sit there but you fall asleep as it begins to get darker.

You're woken by shuffling noises. It's definitely night time now and you realize that there will monsters out. You reach into your pocket for your knife only to find that it is not there and you are defenceless. You stand up and back away from the sound of rustling and find yourself pressed up against a tree. A stymphalian bird comes and sits on a nearby branch and stares at you with metallic eyes.

You desperately search your pockets for a weapon but come up empty handed. The bird rises from the branch and flies at you.

You raise your hands in front of your face and drop to the ground.

The bird suddenly explodes when a small fire ball connects with its side.

You let your arms fall and begin to cry hugging your legs.

You notice as someone comes and squats down beside you. You look up to see Leo.

Leo offers you a silent hug. You leap up, to an extent, and throw your arms around his neck and cry into his shoulder.

Leo pauses before putting his arms around you. After a few minutes Leo moves so he is sitting cross-legged.

You begin to hiccup soon and Leo begins to rub your back.

You're glad he hasn't asked you what is wrong yet, you were still in a state of shock. You're not sure when but you fall asleep.

When you wake up you notice that the sun is coming up and you are still in the forest. Remaining still you notice that Leo is still there too but you have obviously moved. For starters Leo is leaning up against a tree and your head is in your lap, you blush a deep pink but dare not move an inch. When you feel the blush recede you very carefully sit up. It's not quite dawn yet you note with certainty. You turn back and look at Leo. He looks completely and utterly dead to the world his curly hair falling into his eyes. You smile as you spot a large grease mark. Leo was always building things.

You bite your lip for a moment before deciding to wake him up. You lightly shake his arm. "Leo, Leo,"

He stirs and you hold back a smile as he tries to swat away the light.

You poke him in the arm and he jumps.

"Whoa! Oh hi there (FN)" He says spotting you.

"Hey,"

Silence falls as you both lean against the tree.

After a minute or two you look at him and say, "Thank-you."

"You're welcome," you get as a reply.

Not knowing what else to say you just lean over and pick up the discarded letter. Carefully not reading the words you fold up the letter. Biting the inside of your lip for a moment you pass it to Leo.

Gently Leo unfolds the paper and reads the content. A minute later he folds it up again before placing it to the side and putting an arm around your shoulders.

"She was 5, Leo, all she wanted was to go to school and learn. She never asked to be part of some experiment. My father was a scientist, wasn't very well in the mind. He threw me out 4 years ago because I refused to comply with his experiments. I should've been there for her!"

You begin sob again and Leo pulls you into a proper embrace.

"I was 7," Leo says. You remain silent sensing he needed to tell you this.

"Gaea came sleepwalking. She talked to me after my mother has gone for her keys in the back of the workshop. Gaea made me so mad that I accidentally burnt the place down, my mother was still inside."

You stay silent and put you head on his shoulder.

* * *

**Another 8 months later**

You and Leo are the best of friends and you can be seen often walking around the camp chatting. In fact you are off to meet him now. A blush creeps onto your face.

You're walking through camp towards the forest but someone sneaks up behind you before covering your eyes with a blind fold. You reach up to rip it off to find that you can't. It's a magic blindfold that you and your siblings made. It can only be taken off by the person who it is keyed too.

Next thing you know you are be physically dragged away. You begin to process but someone puts their hand over your mouth and tells you to shush. Soon you notice that you have been taken inside. You quickly note that it's Hecate cabin. Thinking you realize where your sisters and brother are leading you. Your hear the hinge of the cupboard and you are pushed inside. You bang your hands on the door for a minute before leaning against the back of the cupboard. You bang your head on the wall before sliding down and sitting on the floor.

You stay there thinking for a while, your main thought-Why?

After what you guess was 30 minutes the door opens and you scramble to your feet. Instead of letting you out like you hoped you siblings push someone else in. The door locks behind them.

The person swore in Greek.

"Leo?!" You ask.

"(FN)?" He says genuinely surprised, "that explains that!"

"Yeah, kidnapped by siblings..." You say.

"Can I just ask if you have a blindfold," Leo asked.

"Yeah, don't bother trying to take them off yourself; they can only be taken off by the person that they're keyed to."

"And you know this how?"

"I helped invent them."

"Really? That's awesome."

Luckily Leo can't see your face; it must be completely red by now.

"Yeah, but that was years ago," you say sitting down again. You notice Leo sit down as well. You notice that the cupboard was a lot smaller than you remember your knees are brushing up against the walls now.

You're still trying to figure out what your siblings are trying to do. You think back to when the cupboard was last used.

You sit in silence until a voice sounds in your ear.

"Hi there (FN)!" You hear your preppy younger sister says.

"Penny?!" You think to yourself realizing that the headset had been activated.

"Yep! We finally set up the headset part!"

"I can tell," you reply dryly. You note that Leo must be talking to someone as well as he was being silent.

"So, care to explain?" You ask.

"Yep! See Aphrodite cabin gave us the idea. No one wants a repeat of the Percabeth start up; they were so oblivious it was painful. It took them 5 whole years!"

"How does that relate to the topic?" You asked.

"You two are completely oblivious, and camp agrees" Penny replies.

"What? Oh damn it" You say first confused. The cupboard was dubbed the kissing cupboard as it was made by a child of Hecate at the request of an Aphrodite child. It was made so that when two people were put in together they couldn't leave until they kissed- properly.

You hear you sister giggling.

"Oh yeah, last thing. Your blindfold is keyed to you, but has an extra charm. Neither will come off before you admit to yourself that you like like the other! How fun is that!"

"WHAT"

"Bye!"

With that the headset switched off.

An eerie silence filled the cupboard and you sit stock still.

The frozen silence lasts for about 30 seconds before you notice that the cupboard was actually smaller and still shrinking.

"Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"Umm, the room is shrinking..." You say quickly standing up.

"Dammit!" Leo curses before standing as well. You feel a heavy blush as you realise that the small room is really cramped.

You wonder why you're blushing; you'd been in this sort off close proximity before the main time being when you were still depressed. You realize with a jolt exactly what it meant. Pausing for a moment you reach up to your blindfold. It slides off. It's still pretty dark however.

The walls of the cupboard have now pushed the two of you so close that there was no distance. You have no choice but to look at Leo, who is exactly half an inch taller than you.

You can't help it but to notice that Leo has lost his blindfold too. The cupboard shrinks a little more and you find yourself and Leo basically pressed together. Your arms are up on his chest and his arms are around your waist. You can't help but blush a deep red. Next thing you know the pair of you are kissing. You thoughts jar to a halt. Everything else disappears from around you as you sink into the kiss. You arms move up and hook around Leo's neck.

You find your need for oxygen sooner rather than later. As the pair of you part you gasp softly taking in the much needed air.

"This time last year, if someone told me about this, I would've let you fall from that tree."

"Well isn't that just-"

You interrupt him with another kiss.

When you break apart he continues, "Awesome"

* * *

**So yeah! That's it! Hope you enjoyed it! Please feel free to comment on anything in the box below.**

**At this moment this story is only a one-shot, but if I get enough demands for more (comment below to demand)I will write more!**

**Jessica Out!**


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